The invention relates to a method and a system for managing data and a corresponding computer program and a corresponding computer-readable storage medium, which are used, in particular, to simplify the data management on a remotely located storage system when accessing the storage system from a terminal.
When a user wants to change data stored on a remote data storage device, in particular a mass storage device, the user cannot work with the original, but must create a copy of the data which must then be stored on a local terminal for processing. Different techniques used on the data storage devices require different handling during use. A module performing the access and adapted to each external data storage device must be present and configured on the local terminal on which the data are to be processed. These modules are traditionally designed only for transfer of data and moreover lack administrative or logging functionality. The user himself is therefore responsible for:                monitoring the versions,        the location of the data on the external data storage device in the proper directory, and        selecting the correct data storage device.        
For example, when a file name was allocated several times to different files stored in different directories on different data storage devices, the user encounters significant problems in writing back these files to the desired location on the remote data storage device after a change, because information about the source location is no longer available after copying to the local drive. This complexity could hitherto only be overcome manually.
When using conventional solutions for data management, access to data stored on a remote data storage device is thus cumbersome in comparison with the use of locally stored data. Various techniques are used to access the remote data storage device, depending on the type of the remote data storage device. A user must be familiar with all these different techniques to be able to use the data storage device. In addition, data management is extremely error-prone when using the conventional techniques.
In the state of the art, revision systems are offered for data management. These systems focus on tracking and logging changes in the stored data, e.g. to go back to an older version. Such revision systems require an additional module installed on the data storage devices. This significantly limits the function of the (universal) data storage device, because even simple read accesses must be performed by this process. In addition, these revision systems require a strict retention of directories on the mass storage device and on the local terminal. This information is specified during configuration of the revision control system. The control of the revision control system and hence of the information about the storage location ceases when the data were copied or moved to a new location on the local terminal.